This is a great brownie recipe. I love using these brownies as fuel for my rides. The oat flour along with the almond butter helps them digest slowly and give steady energy throughout a ride. They taste great too!
Ride Size Portion
2 tablespoons ground flax meal
1.5 cups of oats (oat flour or any flour)
1/2 cup brown sugar (Don't have brown sugar? Add a couple tablespoons of molasses to white sugar.)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons almond butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4-1/2 cup of crushed walnuts (optional)
Entire Batch With Walnuts
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mix the ground flax meal with 3-4 tablespoons of warm water and let it sit for about 10 minutes until it has a jelly-like texture. Put the oats into a blender and turn them into flour. Pour all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix evenly. Then add in the chocolate chips. Pour mixture into a brownie tray lined with parchment paper. You could add the walnuts on top here. Bake in the oven for about a half hour. Let them cool for an hour or two then cut them up into 9-12 brownies.
The final day of Road Titans had finally arrived! After fueling up on vegan pancakes with almond butter, we headed over to our "late" 10 a.m. start. We started late because we were supposed to catch the B and C group at South Cove Park, a few miles from the finish, for a photo and stroll into town together. On the drive over to the stage Anthony asked me if my legs were sore. "Of course my legs are sore" I replied. "Titans consists of my largest training rides three days in a row. I never do this many miles and this much elevation gain 3 days in a row for training." Titans is a difficult event to finish for all the riders involved. If it was not so challenging why would anyone attempt it?
Titan Fuel!
We took off for the final stage of Titans under clear skies and in warm temperatures. There were some tired legs at the start, but Chris and I still kept the pressure on all the way out to the KOM. The KOM to Whitewater Falls was the easiest of all the KOM climbs, but we had to tackle another steep climb immediately after Whitewater. Since we had to tackle two big climbs the total elevation for the final day was equal to the elevation gains on the other two days. We arrived at the final KOM, and Anthony thrived. He tackled the 30 minute KOM at 7 more watts than he conquered Sassafras with a normalized power of 5 more watts than Sassafras. I wonder if he would have gained more watts if Titans were one more day. By the time we reached the first rest stop we caught the B group. Since we were the final group to the rest stop there were no peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich so much that I decided to set a blistering pace and ride on my own. I blitzed through the B and C groups before the next stop to guarantee a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. A few minutes after I scarfed down a couple sandwiches Anthony arrived, and we decided to leave the final stop relatively early and finish this journey on our own. Anthony and I cruised back into Seneca about an hour ahead of everyone else with Erin Burton, a badass in her own right.
View from Wigginton Overlook
I am proud of how Anthony rode at Titans, the toughest physical challenge of his life. He didn't just putz through it. He rode well in the strongest group on the ride. We worked meticulously to have him prepared for the challenge. By listening to my instructions, eating well, hydrating well, pacing well, and resting well he was able to improve each day. Be sure to check out my final post coming out in the next couple days about our takeaway from Titans.
I've recently been posting pictures of these to my Instagram account, and some people have expressed interest in wanting to make them. They are delicious and nutritious, so I thought I would share the recipe on my blog. This also ties into my Road Titans posts because Anthony and I ate these on the final morning of Road Titans when we had some extra time on our hands with the 10 am start vs. the 8 am start. This recipe yields about 4 crepes, and one serving for me before my training rides.
Ingredients
For the crepe:
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 banana
a little more than 3/4 cup of coconut almond milk
cinnamon (optional)
For the filling:
1 apple chopped into small pieces
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
Put a pan or a cast-iron skillet on the stove over medium to medium high heat. First put the oats in a blender like a Vitamix. Blend the oats until they turn into a flour. Then add the banana and the milk. Blend until everything is smooth. Once the skillet is hot melt some coconut oil in the pan, and then pour about 1/4 of your batter into the pan. Spread the batter out using a rubber spatula. Once the crepe is cooked about all the way through flip it to let it finish cooking. Repeat this process until all your crepes are cooked. You could also make pancakes using this recipe if you use less milk, don't spread out the batter, and if you finish the pancakes in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. With the thicker pancakes I feel that the insides are a little uncooked if you do not finish them in the oven.
For the filling heat a pan over medium to medium high heat. Melt some coconut oil. Then add your apples, your cinnamon, and your vanilla. Stir occasionally, and let this cook for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes the apples will be nice and soft.
When everything is cooked spread some almond butter on a crepe, add some apple filling, and roll up your crepe. Do this will all your crepes. Add some almond butter to the top of the crepes, and sprinkle the remaining apples over the top too. If you are going for a really long ride, and want some extra juice or if you just love the flavor drizzle some maple syrup over the top. I hope you enjoy this recipe because I know I do.
